Modelling and evaluation of a thermal microfluidic sensor fabricated on plastic substrate

The simulation and the experimental evaluation of a thermal microfluidic flow sensor are presented in this work. The sensor was evaluated in calorimetric mode with water flow. The simulation was performed with COMSOL package. Various combinations of microchannel geometries were tested in different input flows. The optimum pair of upstream–downstream sensing elements were extracted theoretically and verified experimentally. The operational parameters of the device were simulated by 3D models and the optimum conditions were determined for various flow ranges.